Students At Parsons and The University of Cincinnati Are Innovating And Generating Economic Growth.

It’s easy to get pessimistic in this holiday season as major institutions in our lives, especially the financial institutions, break our trust. But we shouldn’t despair. I recently visited two senior design/innovation classes in Cincinnati and New York where the students were so wonderfully brilliant that my own personal gloom was lifted and replaced by hope.

NussbaumOnDesign

Feelin' Muji

Anonymity is an odd thing for a brand to strive for, but not if you are a "no brand" brand. The goal of Yasui's team is to define Muji by design: to create and refine products toward ultimate simplicity and functionality. Muji is characterized by neutral tones and a bare-bones chic infused into everything from food to beds to bicycles--even a house. Muji ("no mark" in Japanese) screams minimalism to anyone who has entered one of its 433 locations in 16 countries.

Time Magazine

Thinking by Design

While marketers have appreciated the value of distinctive design for some time now—at least since Apple and Target started making it a key differentiator about a decade ago—design thinking is something else. The premise is that if you tap a designer, or a designer's problem-solving approach, to tackle standard business problems, you will get game-changing results.

That's why Procter & Gamble credits DT for the company's successful turnaround of its Herbal Essences shampoo line. It's also why Bank of America points to DT as the catalyst for its "Keep the Change" program, which automatically entered "rounded up" figures on checks and payments into savings accounts. Ninety-nine percent of customers who opted for Keep the Change stayed with the program, according to BofA.

BrandWeek

Stand by Your Brand: How Cohesive Design Turned Obama Into America’s Leading Man

But the “O” logo is only one element of the two-part Obama campaign. Utilizing the san serif Gotham font, his typeface creates a look that is both formal and friendly, the perfect hallmark of an ideal Presidential candidate. Paired together with its “O” partner, and the Obama brand created a dynamic duo. The symbol occupies the recognizable “hero” role, while the font literally reinforces the brand name. No piece of marketing collateral ever escapes a healthy dosing of logo treatment in a political campaign, but Team Obama has transitioned his sleek modernist look into an iconic symbol so seamlessly it borders on graceful.

dvisible magazine
h/t Steve L.

Coke's New Design Direction

When Butler reviewed the state of design at Coca-Cola on his arrival, evaluating everything from the branding created for the then-recent 2004 Olympics in Athens to the process that the company's 300-plus bottling partners went through to get approval for new bottle designs to the customer experience of buying a Coke from a vending machine, he found a lot that needed fixing.

Business Week

Designing the Future of Business

A 2007 survey by Kelton Research for Autodesk (ADSK) found that when seven in 10 Americans recalled the last time they saw a product they just had to have, it was because of design. The survey found that among younger people (18 to 29 years old), the influence of design was even more pronounced. In Britain, a recent survey by the Design Council found that 16% of British businesses say design tops their list of key success factors. Among "rapidly growing" businesses, no fewer than 47% rank it first.

Business Week

Font of Youth: How is Obama Like Target?

Like Aeron chairs or Eames furniture, Helvetica and its ilk have enjoyed a revival in the 21st century, and—like so much in campaigns—the use of the font sends multiple messages. First, given how small-c conservative most campaign design is (something like this could have been a campaign design for any candidate in the last four decades), the font and the all-around look communicates modernity—it reinforces the "change" branding. If you think of a Presidential candidate as a brand—and their campaigns do—it's young... but not too young. It also communicates a level of familiarity and safety, because you've seen if pretty much everywhere in commercial culture. (John McCain's website, befitting a conservative and old-school candidate, has a more traditional design and mix of serif and sans-serif fonts.)

Tuned In

Business Model Innovation: Best Buy, P&G and Apple Get it. Starbucks Doesn't Get It.

An economic crisis can be a crucible that forges new innovations in business operations or they can lead companies to make dumb mistakes that destroy them as they rush blindly to survive. We’re beginning to see corporations move into one camp or the other as the economic downturn gets worse and worse.

Nussbaum on Design